She was still trying to decide where to place the last paper when he woke up with a jump. Although she could not touch him, she could feel the sweat covering his skin. A nightmare, she thought. She saw him march to the kitchen, over her work, to wash his hands. She wondered with curiosity why he scrubbed at his hands. Probably a strange dream, another type of ghost that haunted him.
Kakashi went back to the living room and overlooked at the papers scattered everywhere as he stretched and remembered why they were there. A strange worry weighed down on his shoulders and he frowned. Then, he realized something; those papers were not disorganized, they were now sorted and... "Pakkun, look at this!"
The dog snored a last time before lazily stepping over the investigation. "What is it?"
"See?" He pointed at a classified document. "Orochimaru-sama is a master of sealing techniques," he pointed at another paper, "and look at these dates, these disappearances happened mostly..."
"When Orochimaru-sama was residing in Konoha," Pakkun finished. "But he is one of the sennin... accusing him is..."
Kakashi started to gather his research sloppily. "Sumi is in danger. We need to find where he took her."
They stormed off, trying to get a clue, a trail... Sumi followed them. If only she could somehow guide them...
Kakashi and Pakkun were traveling fast the streets when an avalanche of cantaloupes blocked their path. The poor merchant cursed: he had just been about to place the last one in the pyramid. The same disposition he used for his fruits since almost forty years now of experience and this one time, it was the first time that he failed. Maybe his daughter was right; maybe he was getting old...
Sumi smirked at her strategy as she saw Kakashi and Pakkun take the other street, the one that would lead them to...
"Kakashi!" the ever youthful voice of Guy called after him.
"Not now!" Pakkun yelled back.
Guy huffed. "You are all so busy these days... first Sumi, now you... well, always you-"
Kakashi took him by the suit. "What did you say?"
"You are always busy-"
"No, about Sumi."
Guy frowned. "She was also busy the other day."
"When?"
"Yesterday. Is something wrong?"
Kakashi let go off him and regained his calm. "Was that when you last saw her?"
"Yes, it was really early, barely daylight. I had gone out to train. The early bird gets the worm, you know. I was surprised to see her already up. Most of the village is asleep by then. I asked her if she wanted to train with me, but she said she was waiting for Orochimaru-sama," Guy explained.
"Do you know where they were going?"
Guy shook his head. "But I can tell you where I saw her. Are you sure everything is alright? Is Sumi in danger?"
"Bless you, Guy," Sumi said by his side.
Kakashi shook his head. "No, I just forgot to give her something."
Guy smirked and winked at Kakashi, "I see. Well, she was by herself in the training grounds close to the hospital."
They were automatically on the move again. They reached the training grounds next to the Uchiha clan district. The trees danced with a wind that did not move Sumi's hair and the water in the lake was crisped.
"What now?" Pakkun asked.
Kakashi looked right and left. "Do you smell something?"
Pakkun sniffed the air, then the ground. "I can smell that she was here, but I cannot properly follow through, as I said. However, I would say..." He pointed a paw, "...they went that direction."
"Perfect," Kakashi said pulling out a huge map of the area around Konoha. Several red circles marked possible hideouts he had been investigating. He traced a line with his finger. "This area must be where he took her. There are at least three possible hiding places in this part of the forest."
"We need reinforcements," Pakkun added. Kakashi agreed.
They ran to the Hokage's office. It did not take much to convince him. Sarutobi Hiruzen had suspected his disciple's dark machinations since a long time now, maybe too long. A regret that would chase him to the afterlife.
Two small teams were gathered to check Kakashi's indicated points. Sumi could not hold her impatience. She felt a numbness take over her already dulled body. She looked up, through the leaves of the lush perennial trees, and found the Sun over their heads. It would soon be afternoon, they neared her 24 hours dead time.
Hiruzen's team finally reached the almost underground shelter, that house of madness and depravation where Orochimaru was still experimenting, shameless, when they stormed in. Sumi was barely aware of the exchange, instead preoccupied to check on her body. To her relief, it was where she had abandoned it, in the same empty room, lying peacefully in the table.
"You are back," a little voice said by her side.
She smiled at Tanabe Shun, the four year old boy with the teddy bear that disappeared from his hospital room ten years ago. "I will leave soon."
"Can I go with you?" he asked. His big eyes seemed almost alive.
Her voice wavered. "No, I am sorry."
"Can you help me find my mommy then?"
Sumi kneeled to his eye level. "Your mommy is now busy, but she will be back with you one day. But she won't find you if you stay here," she explained.
"I cannot find the way out. Can you help me?"
This time the tear that rolled down her cheek seemed to warm her skin as it trailed down. "I will." She took his little hand. "Come with me."
They walked down the damned corridors, passed by the conflict between the living without paying them attention, sent their goodbyes to the other lost souls trapped, and sought the entrance. It had been left open and the light seemed to cut a line in the floor, a barrier between worlds.
The boy smiled, "Thank you," and he ran out. She saw his shape disappear in the light and she wiped her eyes.
In a flash someone ran through her. Kakashi.
She followed.
He was looking for her. His body was still shaken from his encounter with Orochimaru, his head was in many places at the same time. His eyes did not register the horror, the corpses hanging by their ankles, their wrists, their necks... Other ANBU were already gathering evidence, checking for survivors. He traveled four different rooms before he found her.
It was too late.
Her hair was loose, sprawled on the table as a crown around her face. He realized how much she had changed, how she did not look like her mother anymore, but like herself, like the woman she would have grown to be if he had not been, once again, too late.
He grasped her hands, those that laid over her stomach, limp. "I am sorry," he whispered. He noticed then the two barrettes in her hand, the mirthful memories they carried were too precious to be left to rot in this cursed place. So he took them.
"We can take care of her," another ANBU told him. He was with a companion gathering those corpses that could still be recognised to give sepulture.
He was completely unaware of the girl flailing her arms over his head, screaming, "No! No! I am here! Let my body!"
Kakashi nodded slowly and turned to leave. How he would get over this loss, he had no idea. The list was now too long for another name.
The other ANBU clicked his tongue. "You knocked it off again," he complained to his colleague.
"I told you, I did not touch that candle. It just keeps on falling by itself. It would not surprise me if this place would be haunted..." the other answered as they tried to bag the girl's corpse.
Kakashi's eyes widened. He was already in the corridor but he ran back and pushed away the hands of the two other.
"What are you doing?" one complained.
"I will take care of this," he answered, stealing the bag from his hands.
The man tsk-ed again and they both left the room with a bitter commentary about youth and manners and other times.
Kakashi picked up the candle that had rolled under the table and studied it. It seemed a mere candle. He placed it next to the other and thought 'now what?'. Well, he could think of only one thing to do with candles, so he lighted them up.
As a magic spell, a pair of arms circled his head and for the first time in their lives, he hugged Sumi back, tightly against himself, as if to make sure that it was not a dream. She relished in his warmth, enjoying the world as if she was born again. It was almost overwhelming, the smells, the lights, the colors, the heat on her skin, the softness of his hair on her cheek.
They separated and she noticed he was bleeding, a small cut on his head. "Let's go home," she said, tiredness clear in her voice.
"I have work to do here," he answered.
She nodded. "Be careful then."
He hesitated, then he offered his hand. She gave him hers and he gave her back her hair adornments.
"Thank you," she said.
In a conversation, sometimes it is more important what it is left unsaid.
"Come closer, I don't bite," the Hokage joked.
Sumi barely dared to peak at him as she took some tiny steps towards his desk, head low in reverence.
"You-You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" she asked after a minute of silence only broken by the quill on the paper as he scribbled.
He raised his head. "I did call you indeed." He finally left the writing tools. "Your team is no more and your teacher... well, let's say you are by yourself now. Your old teammates have already chosen their paths, what they want to do next, but I would like to know about you. Where should I send you next?"
She bowed lower. "I am ready to take any task the Hokage wishes for me."
Hiruzen chuckled. "I see... I have heard you have a good friendship with Hatake Kakashi. I was thinking a dedicated kunoichi like you could do well in ANBU."
She gasped. Was that not what she wanted, her dream? It had been merely a week since...
"I am sorry but I must decline that offer," she said, raising her head to look at his face.
She found him smiling. "I see."
"I will train and become a jōnin and only then, if you still agree, I will join ANBU," she explained.
The Hokage nodded, taking again the quill and dipping slowly its tip in the black ink. "I will look forward to it then."